Dave Chappelle made another joke about Charlie Kirk’s death during his Madison Square Garden shows, delivering a punchline that closely resembles a controversial George Floyd joke told at Kevin Hart’s roast earlier this year.
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In a clip shared online Monday, November 9, Chappelle tells the New York crowd: “I’m sure Charlie Kirk is looking up at us right now, laughing so hard he can’t breathe.”The line carries two pointed references. Saying Kirk is looking “up” rather than down suggests he is in hell, while the final words closely mirror a joke comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made about Floyd during Netflix’s Roast of Kevin Hart in May. The new video does not establish whether Chappelle deliberately borrowed the structure to make a statement about that earlier controversy.
Chappelle performed at Madison Square Garden on November 6 and 7 as part of his Karmageddon tour and the New York Comedy Festival. Both shows were advertised as phone-free, with attendees required to secure devices in locked pouches. Nevertheless, short recordings have circulated online. The exact night on which Chappelle delivered this latest line has not been independently confirmed.
The second clip follows another widely shared moment from the performances. In that recording, Dave Chappelle joked that he had been feeling better since Kirk was murdered and described unexpectedly finding himself in a good mood. Those remarks prompted criticism from several public figures, including broadcaster Piers Morgan.
Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, also addressed jokes about political assassination in a statement posted Sunday, November 8. She criticized comedians, podcasters and commentators who turn the loss of a human life into entertainment and emphasized that she and the couple’s two children continue living with the consequences of his death. Her statement did not identify Chappelle by name.
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The similarity to Hinchcliffe’s earlier material gives the latest clip another layer. At Hart’s May 10 Netflix roast, Hinchcliffe used the same basic setup about someone looking upward and laughing until they could not breathe, but named George Floyd. Floyd was murdered by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020, and his repeated pleas that he could not breathe became a rallying cry against police brutality.
Hinchcliffe’s joke drew objections from Floyd’s family. Hart subsequently discussed the controversy on The Breakfast Club, saying he would not personally tell such a joke but understood that roasts often feature deliberately provocative material. Hart also noted that Pete Davidson joked about Kirk during the same Netflix roast. There is no confirmed explanation from Chappelle about whether his Kirk line was intended as a direct response to Hinchcliffe.
Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. He was 31. A Utah man, Tyler Robinson, has been charged in connection with the killing.
Dave Chappelle previously addressed Kirk’s assassination in his 2025 Netflix special The Unstoppable. He described feeling shaken by the shooting while challenging comparisons between Kirk and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The latest recording has put a fresh spotlight on the comedian’s material about Kirk, especially because its wording echoes a joke that drew intense criticism months earlier. The clips show what Chappelle said onstage, but not the entire context of his routine or what he intended by repeating that familiar construction.
